One way to hold this word: water running over something again and again, and each time taking a little of it away. A shirt goes into the machine a hundred times and the deep blue leaves with the water, until only a pale, thin blue is left. That one picture stretches easily. What the water carries off can be the colour in cloth, the colour and strength in a tired person's face, or, when the rain is heavy enough, the road itself.
Two branches
顏色和氣色被沖淡
這一支是畫面最直接的結果：東西還在，只是變淡了。先是布上的顏色變淡，再來是人臉上的顏色變淡。兩者的差別在位置：講顏色可以放在名詞前面，講人幾乎只放在 look、feel、seem 後面。
adjective · B2
Pale and no longer bright, because the colour has slowly been taken out of something, usually by washing it many times or by leaving it in strong sunlight.
褪色的
被大水沖壞的路
同樣是水帶走東西，但這一支的規模完全不同：帶走的不是表面的顏色，而是路面和橋本身，結果是車子過不去。前一支說「還在，只是淡了」，這一支說「不見了，不能走了」。
adjective · C1
Used about a road, bridge or track that heavy rain or a flood has broken up or carried away, so that cars cannot use it. This use is mainly American English.
被大水沖壞的